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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Day 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Welcome to the first day of my eight-day long Harry Potter marathon. This is purely because I have not seen any of the Harry Potter's and I promised a whole lot of people that I'd watch 'em all when the last DVD came out. That was just about a month ago, so I have to do it now. I will be blogging about my journey through Hogwarts...and such.

One thing I realised while watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is that I am going to have an extremely difficult time trying to conjure up proper reviews on these films. I sat there trying to pick out things that were wrong with it, but I was really just having too much fun. Anyway, some thoughts from an outsider's perspective:

-I know that they will probably get better as the series goes on, but I thought that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were pretty terrible. Sure, they were good for their age. I just felt like they were trying too hard to remember their lines that nothing else mattered. Trust me, I know how they feel - that's exactly what I did when I picked up the lead role in a class play. I put on a fake French accent to hide that fact, but I think that everyone could tell that the eight-year-old me didn't have much of a future in acting.
-I honestly found the characters a little annoying. Like the actors, I'm sure they'll fill out as the series goes along, but Ron and Hermione were not the kinds of kids I'd like to babysit. Harry was okay, though.
-This movie seemed hell-bent on being a family film. I know that things get darker as the series go on (jeez, I'm starting to sound like a broken record), but this one just wanted to be a kid-friendly enjoyment-fest. Now, I didn't have a problem with this as such, it was just a bit jarring. Mainly because in the darker moments, it still wanted to be a family film, and everything was covered in a layer of kiddy sugar-coating.
-I've always been a fan of 'how the story began' films (if you know what I mean), so I had fun with this one. It was cool getting introduced to the world of Hogwarts and magic and stuff. I particularly liked the scene where Harry went to get his wand.
-There are a lot of characters - who I imagine will all fill out - and I think I'm slowly picking up who are my favourites. I'll reveal them later, just so I can make sure that they're actually cool or not.

-Snape has a very interesting hairstyle. Alan Rickman is pretty awesome in the role, too.
-All of these movies are so long! If I'd read the books than I'm sure that I'd understand the running times, but two and a half hours is a bit much for me!
-In saying that, the running time whizzed away for me. There was a lot of fun to be had.
-The flashback scenes were really bad.
-Can somebody please explain to me why Voldemort had a nose?
-And one last thing: the main theme for Harry Potter sounds to me like a slightly warped version of 'Swan Lake' by Tchaikovsky. I may be the only one who thinks this.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a pretty good start. I was pretty entertained. It wasn't perfect, and it has a few teething problems, but things should even out. That's how much faith I have in the series already. Let's hope I am rewarded.

They were super awkward at first, but they were so cute!! I fell in love with Daniel Radcliffe when I saw the first one (I was 9, mind you). And I knew/know the Ron-Hermione banters by rote. Maybe they're a bit annoying now, but honestly I loved the trio. I was a bit of a Hermione (still am) and Ron was a fun ginger. I mean, come on!

Glad you liked it. Chamber of Secrets will be a bit blah, but it'll get better, I promise.